Te Akau: Good Friday Double

With racing not complete for the evening (we have an early start for travelling to Awapuni and also television) but we are thrilled that Te Akau Singapore trainer Mark Wallker has already trained a winning double tonight at Kranji.

The first win came with Lord Roberto - raced by Fortuna Syndicates, he was purchased from the Karaka Premier Sale for $120,000 by David Ellis. He was the third win for the night for the apprentice Harry Kasim who rode successfully in New Zealand.

Lord Roberto, who was initially an emergency acceptor but got a berth after the withdrawal of one of the early favourites First Scoop, came off another clever piece of riding from the young man.

Not the easiest horse to ride, the big gangly galloper was however ridden cleverly by Kasim from the word go. Once he was able to settle the son of Encosta De Lago in the lead, he immediately dropped anchor to put his rivals to sleep before cranking the speed right back up inside the last two furlongs.

It was then an almost foregone conclusion the other 11 runners would have their jobs cut out when Lord Roberto dashed clear at the top of the straight. Most of them looked rooted to the spot, except for Lonesome Me (John Powell) who was the only one seen trying to make a race of it at the 300m, but Lord Roberto kept rallying under his rider's urgings to score with two lengths to spare.

The second win came quickly - a narrow but courageous effort by Zac Command under the intelligent guidance of champion rider Joao Moreira.  It was a narrow but gutsy win by the horse who came off the fence to challenge at the 200m and ground the leader down to snatch victory in the shadows of the post.